MAD MAX: FURY ROAD de George Miller

[Val]

Charlize Theron a peut être fait un chat-bite a Tom Hardy.

[Jed_Trigado]

Dean Semler, le DP des deux précédents opus de la franchise, était envisagé pour rempiler :

Dean Semler, ASC, ACS: I desperately wanted to shoot “Mad Max: Fury Road” and I was absolutely thrilled when George and his producer Doug Mitchell asked me to rejoin them for the 4th “Mad Max“ movie…but, here’s the sad story.

I had a long working experience with George, the ‘Mad Max‘ creator and director, not only on those features but also several quality TV series in Australia. Even though George’s initial inspiration for “Fury Road“ came from his long dusty journey across the stunning landscape, endless horizons, and spectacular deserts of Namibia, he wanted to shoot “Fury Road“ in his home country, the country he loved, Australia.

I travelled down under a couple of times to prep the film. The first time to conduct tests on an aussie made 3D camera that was built under George’s close scrutiny, because he definitely wanted to shoot 3D, but the rig had to be much smaller than any of the existing giant 3D rigs because of the ability to capture the performance with close intimate coverage of the lead actors in the especially designed but still quite cramped cabin of the giant hero tanker. The camera had to be so small that it could get a few inches away from the actors, close enough to feel their breath on the lens.

I shot some initial tests with stand-ins in a simulated truck cabin, and then some fast tracking shots in an open field not far from Sydney, enough to take through to the next stage. Transferring and viewing the material at my favorite home away from home ‘E-Film‘ in Hollywood, it seemed that the small cameras, although not 65mm film by a long way, would work well for “Fury Road“.

The next step was back to the blessed outback and some real “Mad Max“ action. The drivers, the stunt men, some flying in the air on swinging poles extending from broad wheeled vehicles...what an absolutely insane collection, engines roaring, adrenaline pumping, just waiting for the word to go.

Now here’s the 3D camera set up. The cameras were indeed fairly small, but needed some protection so a small compressor forced positive pressure inside to keep the dust out. To protect the large front glass / mirror from being damaged by flying stones and dirt, two leaf blowers were added to the rig with a small generator to power them. To prevent the digital cameras from overheating, the genius designers had layered a thin flange around the bodies and injected a constant flow of iced water…problem solved! The tests were like the good old days…wild, fast, close, dangerous, mind-blowing tracking shots…only now in 3D.

A big problem now arose. A massive cyclone had inundated northeastern Australia, flooding towns, and farms. And anything in its path, and in its aftermath, as the waters drained to the south west and into the blessed outback, the former desert was going green. Lake Eyre, a salt lake, now had fish, frogs and pelicans. It was now obvious that the movie could not be made in Australia; so George decided to ship the whole kit and caboodle back to Namibia.

That’s when I had to make the gut wrenching decision. I met with George and sadly gave him my personal family reasons for not wanting to travel to Namibia, and be there for 30 weeks or more. As an old friend he understood. I was worried about a replacement at this late stage, and lo and behold I walk into George’s office the next morning, and there was my old mate John Seale. "I just retired a couple of weeks ago, but I guess here we go again!“ he said with a big smile. I could not have wished for any other DP on the planet to take over from me other than John. His work as a cinematographer has always been outstanding and he truly excelled himself, doing a stunning job on the extremely challenging "Fury Road“. Thanks forever John.

After a relationship spanning over thirty years, saying goodbye to George wasn’t easy, I wished him luck on what would be the most difficult film he had ever undertaken, a film I really wanted to be part of but it wasn’t to be. After a long and emotional hug I flew back to my Los Angeles home, and George and Johnny headed to Africa.

C'est dommage pour lui, surtout qu'aujourd'hui, il en est réduit a jouer les caméraman chez Adam Sandler....